PICKET: AP Poll - Obama losing support from women and youth

In a further sign that President Barack Obama is losing key demographics of the Democratic base, the Associated Press just released a new poll showing among other pieces of data that his support among both women and younger voter is dropping: (bolding is mine)

—Women no longer are a bright spot for Obama.At the 100-day mark of his presidency, they gave him significantly higher approval ratings than did men, 68 percent to 60 percent. That’s since fallen dramatically.In the latest AP-GfK survey, less than half of all women and less than half of all men approve of the job Obama is doing. Just 50 percent of women said Obama deserves re-election.Still, women are more likely than men to see Obama as empathetic or a strong leader, and they give him sharply higher positive ratings on his handling of the economy. Forty-three3 percent of women approve, compared with 29 percent of men.

—Younger voters and liberals are showing doubts about him, too.Obama won younger voters in 2008 by a bigger margin than Democrat Bill Clinton in his victories in 1992 and 1996. But younger Democrats are no more apt to say the president deserves re-election than are older Democrats. Twenty-seven percent of Democrats under age 45 say Obama is not a strong leader, compared with 11 percent in June.

SEE RELATED:

President Obama came into office carrying these demographics overwhelmingly compared to his 2008 opponent presidential Republican Senator John McCain. 2008 presidential election exit polling showed (H/T U.S. New and World Report):

1. Minorities: Ninety-six percent of black voters supported Obama. He also drew the votes of two thirds of Hispanics.

2. Young people: Obama won the under-30 crowd by 34 percentage points. This bested Bill Clinton’s 19-point advantage over Bob Dole among young voters in 1996.

4. White men: He had the support of 41 percent of white men. Before Obama, no Democrat since Jimmy Carter had earned more than 38 percent of the white male vote.

5. Hillary Clinton fans: Obama won over 84 percent of Democrats who backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries.

According to the AP their analysis “looked at the viewpoints of all adults, not just those who plan to vote in 2012.” Furthermore, President Obama is also losing the support of the white independent. The AP is reporting that their poll shows that only 3 in 10 white independents say that President Obama deserves to be re-elected and only 41 percent think that he “understands the problems of people like them.” This is a huge change from 2008 when it was previously reported by the AP that white independents split their vote evenly between McCain and Obama.

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About the Author

Kerry Picket, a former Opinion Blogger/Editor of The Watercooler, was associate producer for the Media Research Center, a content producer for Robin Quivers of “The Howard Stern Show” on Sirius satellite radio and a production assistant and copy writer at MTV.